Old advertising tarpaulins, defective ventilation pipes, and splintered wooden boards may look like garbage, but they are actually a treasure if you know how to use them. And that’s exactly what the makers of Berlin´s KUNST-STOFFE (which literally means “art materials”), the first waste usage centre in Germany, are doing. There is plenty of rubbish in the city, so the association’s founders got the idea of passing on recyclable materials to artists, educational institutions and do-it-yourselfers. That reduces waste and conserves raw materials. With open workshops, courses devoted to educating people about sustainability, and a repair café, the recycling project is an antidote to the “throwaway society”.